National Parents Organization rebukes CBA position on Equal Parenting Bill as “insincere, inaccurate and uniformed”

March 30, 2014

OTTAWA – The Canadian Equal Parenting Council (CEPC) – Conseil d’égalité parentale du Canada denounces the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) opposition to Bill C-560 as insincere, inaccurate, uninformed of the Bill’s contents and based on their own vested interests rather than the best interests of children.

Glenn Cheriton is president of CEPC, a national federation of organizations from across Canada who are in favour of Bill C-560. He says, “Lawyers are required to advocate for the interests of their clients and in family law, this usually means for one parent and against the other. For the CBA to imply that they are advocating for the best interests of children appears hypocritical or insincere. Lawyers in an adversarial system which incentivizes conflict stand to gain from a family law system so flawed that even many lawyers and judges have asserted that reforms are sorely needed.”

In a recent press release, the CBA claims that Bill C-560 would “change the primary focus in custody and access matters from what is best for children to equal parental rights.” The CBA has it wrong. “Parental rights” are not mentioned in the Bill. Decades of reviewed social science research convincingly shows that children of separation and divorce experience far better outcomes on multiple measures where both Mom and Dad share parenting time and shared decision making rather than sole custody. The Bill clearly prioritizes children’s interests based on social science research, not, as the CBA claims, on parental rights, “The CBA does not cite a single reference for their claims,” says Mr. Cheriton, “References for our claims are on our website.”

Get all the facts here.

The CBA misleads when it claims: “The bill is based on the faulty assumption that equal parenting time will work for all families, regardless of abilities, circumstances, needs, history, challenges or attitudes of all those involved”. But the Bill only provides a starting point, or “rebuttable presumption” and only if parents cannot agree on their own parenting plan. Parenting plans can have any division of time and responsibility that the parents agree to. This Bill incentivizes such consensual decisions by parents. Former Attorney General Nicholson stated in a letter that parental agreements work out better for children than court imposed orders. A blue ribbon committee that included Supreme Court of Canada Justice Cromwell recommended such consensual parental decisions. In addition, the Bill clarifies situations where equal shared parenting would not be appropriate.

As to CBA claims on international law – the CBA is confused. The Hague Convention is an international agreement on child abduction, similar to the moveaway provisions of Bill C-560. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) asserts the right of the child to parenting by both parents but the CBA confuses CRC with the Hague Convention. Although Canada has ratified the CRC, the intent for children of divorce has been systematically frustrated by the vested interests of a legal profession that stands to gain from conflict. Bill C-560 replaces adversarial custody and access terms with consensual dispute resolution. The bill directs both parents to first give very careful consideration to their children’s rights to enjoy a parenting relationship with both parents.

The CBA confuses parental rights with the naturally inalienable right of the child to enjoy a relationship with both parents. The CRC places an onus on the State to facilitate that child’s right to both parents or meet a reasonable level of proof otherwise. Bill C-560 is a good step forward to meeting Canada’s obligations under the CRC, that the right of children of divorce is, with exceptions, to enjoy a continuing meaningful relationship with both parents.

CEPC calls upon all Canadians and especially all parents to ask their Members of Parliament to vote for Bill C-560 after second reading in the House of Commons May 5th.

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For further information:
Glenn Cheriton, President, Canadian Equal Parenting Council email: president@canadianepc.org
Tel: 613-260-2659 Fax: 1-888-613-0329
CEPC references: www.canadianepc.org/resources
CBA press release: https://www.cba.org/cba/News/2014_Releases/PrintHTML.aspx?DocId=54322